


Finding Midnight

by CrossedMoon



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, M/M, Multi, Photographer!Virgil, The gang adopts a cat, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-17
Updated: 2019-07-02
Packaged: 2020-05-13 07:00:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19246180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrossedMoon/pseuds/CrossedMoon
Summary: Virgil stumbles across a dumpster kitten while walking home from work one day. Shenanigans ensue





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This au idea was created by the Fander Pride Meetup discord server and I decided to write something for it.

Virgil pulled his hood up and put in his earbuds. No music, just putting them in. This was his least favorite part of the day. Walking home from the subway stop was nerve-wracking. Curse his job for making his shift end at almost midnight and curse the universe for letting him move into an apartment so far from the subway.

When he passed his least favorite alley, the darkest and most mysterious one, something made him stop. A noise, something animal like. His brain was screaming at him, telling him to ignore it and move on, but something made him stay there. It sounded so sad. There it was again. It sounded like a cry. Against his better judgement, he shot a text to his roommate telling him he might be a bit late, and creeped into the alley, phone flashlight shining in.

He took out his earbuds so he could hear better and stood there, waiting. There it was again. He pinpointed it to being around the two dumpsters, near the darkest and, frankly, the creepiest part of the alley. This was a very bad idea.

He made his way to in front of the dumpsters and sat down, cross-legged. He waited. And he waited. And he waited.

Just as he was about to get up and abandon on the mystery, he saw a glimpse of something in his flashlight beam. A blur of black streaking across the light. So he waited again. He figured the best way to get whatever this was to reveal itself was to sit and be patient. The fluff appeared in his peripheral. He slowly moved the beam to where it was standing and moved his head to face it.

It was the scrawniest kitten he had ever seen. It stood there, staring at him. Virgil held out his hand, offering it to the kitten. The kitten stared at it, before slowly walking over to it. It sniffed the hand, stayed still for a second, before throwing itself onto the hand.

It rubbed its cheeks all over his hand, alternating between loud purring and meows. Virgil slowly brought the kitten over to his lap. He giggled at the sight, then he reached around and took his phone out of his pocket. The little thing startled and scrambled out of his lap, retreated to a couple feet away, in front of the dumpster.

He snapped a couple of photos, wishing he had his actual camera with him. The kitten came back to his lap. Virgil felt sorry for the poor thing. It was obviously starved for affection, and it looked like it was starved for food too. He wished he didn't have to leave it there, but he couldn't just sit there forever. His butt was starting to get numb. But he really felt for this kitten, and he couldn't abandon it in good conscience.

He had an idea. It was a horrible idea. He really shouldn't go through with it. But the last time he had those thoughts, he ignored them, and he met the darling in front of him. So, he ignored the voice and scooped up the kitten, holding it his against his chest. The baby struggled for a second, but it quickly settled down and started purring.

Virgil got up and started walking. He had no idea what he was doing. He was in no way equipped for an animal, and he was pretty sure his roommate was slightly allergic. He blamed Patton for teaching him to actually care for things. Plus, the landlord didn't allow pets.

The elevator was broken, again. The kitten had fallen asleep before he got through the door, and its little breathing noises were the most adorable sound he had ever heard. Patton was going to freak.

He made it to the sixth floor, out of breath, and having woken the cat up. He was sure to be quiet when he walked in, Patton was a pretty light sleeper. The cat was moving around again. Virgil dropped his backpack in the hallway and made his way to the kitchen. There, he released the kitten onto the counter and started looking around the fridge.

Having found some lunch meat, he tore it up into tiny pieces and dropped it in front of the cat. He would get actual cat food later. Now, it was just about getting something into its stomach. He got a bowl out from the dishwasher, Patton forgot to unload the dishes again, and poured a water bottle into it.

Virgil leaned against the counter, watching the cat. He would need to think of a name for it, needed to stop referring to the cat as "the cat."

"Virge? What's going on?" Virgil glanced over at Patton and his heart stuttered. Even the tiny kitten's adorableness had nothing on just woken up Patton. His hair was messed up, he still had a tired fog in his eyes, and he was positively drowning in the sleep shirt he was wearing. He still had a small smile on his face, even in the haze of drowsiness. The sight was breathtaking.

"Oh, hey Pat. Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up."

"It's ok, kiddo, I'm just wondering what you're doing in the kitchen so early. You're usually asle-" Patton stopped midsentence and his eyes lit up as soon as he noticed the kitten.

"Uh yeah." Virgil let out a nervous laugh. "I found it in the creepy alley."

Patton squealed and nearly sprinted to the counter. He startled the kitten and it nearly leaped off the counter. Virgil caught it midair and placed it on the counter again. Patton stopped and backed up. "Sorry." He said sheepishly.

"It's fine, it's fine. Just, it's skittish. You need to be patient. Come here." Patton stood next to him. Virgil took his hand and set it on the counter. He opened the fist that Patton had made. They stayed there, Virgil's hand wrapped around his wrist, and waited. Warily, the kitten approached Patton's hand. It sniffed the hand. Then, the cat sat down next to it, not touching him, but staying in proximity.

"Did you name it?" Patton whispered.

"No," Virgil muttered back, "I don't even know its gender."

Patton hmm-d for a bit and stared at the cat. Virgil could see the gears turning in his head. While Patton thought, Virgil finally realized how close they were. They were nearly pressed up against each other, Virgil's hand was still on his wrist, and Virgil's heart rate was definitely not resting. He took a step back, suddenly feeling awkward.

"Midnight!" Patton shouted, startling both Virgil and the kitten. "Sorry."

"Huh?" Virgil asked, still reeling from both the closeness and the scare.

"The name's gender neutral, the cat is black, and you found it around midnight. It's perfect!"

Virgil hummed and leaned down to the cat's eye level. "Midnight. What do you think about that?"

In response, the cat flopped down onto its side and meowed. Virgil smiled. "Midnight it is."  
~~~  
Virgil stumbled out of bed at 11:30. It wasnt until he caught sight of Patton playing with Midnight that he even remembered what had happened last night. He hadn't been noticed, and he was content to lean against the doorframe and watch for a few minutes.

Patton was crouched down on the floor, dragging one of the duster cloths back and forth. Midnight got into an attack position and waiting. Soon, it leaped onto the duster cloth. Patton let go of it and giggled at Midnight tearing the cloth into shreds. Virgil snapped a quick photo on his phone, the sound of the camera alerting Patton to his presence.

"Midnight's a girl." Patton said, turning around to smile at him.

"How do you know?" Virgil asked.

"I checked. I worked at an animal shelter when I was in high school."

Midnight pawed at Patton, so he turned around and starting moving the cloth again. "There's a vet pretty close by that takes walk-ins. We could either take her together, or I can take her while you shop for food and stuff."

Virgil hated medical facilities in general, even one for animals. He appreciated that Patton took that into consideration.

"Yeah, we can take her together. I don't want to buy a bunch of stuff and then have to go back after the vet tells us a bunch of other stuff we need to get."

Patton tapped his finger against his temple. "Smart thinking. I'll make lunch, then we can leave. You don't have work today, right?"

"Nope. Thank god." Virgil flopped onto the couch. "I need coffee."

"Chin up. Soon you'll be able to quit." Patton said. Virgil was working at a technology shop, making rent, biding his time until he could make enough money off his photography to quit. He was not made for customer service. "Now come on, I'm not making you lunch and coffee."

Virgil sighed and got up, following Patton into the kitchen. "Fine."

They stood in comfortable silence, Patton making grilled cheese on the stove and Virgil working on the coffee he has perfected years ago. Instant hot chocolate mix in the mug, put French vanilla coffee in the coffee maker. Once the coffee is done, stir until the hot chocolate is dissolved, then add french vanilla creamer to taste. It didn't taste like coffee at all, but wasn't sweet enough to taste bad. He had gotten Patton onto them about a week after they moved in together.

He threw together two of those, setting them onto the kitchen table. He sat at his seat and watched Patton finish the lunch.

He was screwed. He was totally, completely, royally screwed. Virgil couldn't tell you the moment he fell in love with Patton, but he could tell you the moment he realized it. It was one of the first movie nights that was held at the apartment. Roman had claimed a good portion of the couch, Logan taking the chair, he always took the chair, so Virgil and Patton leaned against the front of the couch, sharing their largest blanket. About an hour into Titanic, Patton had fallen asleep. When the boat started sinking, Virgil found himself with Patton's head in his lap. As he worked his fingers through Patton's curls, he found himself feeling something foreign, a softness that he has never experienced before.

While the credits rolled he let out a tiny gasp. "Oh shit." He whispered to himself, quiet enough that the others definitely couldn't hear it. "I'm in love."

Virgil's memory was interrupted by Midnight bolting into the kitchen, scrambling to get a grip on the tiles, yowling very loudly, then sliding into the back of Patton's leg. Loud laughter from both of them interrupted the comfortable silence they had.

They sat down to eat, forming a basic shopping list of things they would need to get. Soon, lunch was finished, and they left the apartment, Midnight in Virgil's arms again. They really needed to get a carrier.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil and Patton gather supplies for the cat and have a photoshoot. Also, more gay thoughts.

The vet was very kind. She told them that Midnight, shockingly, didn’t have anything wrong physically except for malnourishment. She gave her a vaccine, then suggested a meat-based wet food diet, checking Midnight’s weight regularly to see if she’s gaining weight at a healthy pace, and told them to come back in three weeks for a booster shot. 

They were on their way with Midnight in a carrier and headed to the nearest pet shop. Midnight fell asleep on the walk there. Virgil had a sudden spike of worry as they walked through the door, wondering if cats were even allowed in there. But, he spotted someone with a leashed Great Pyrenees at checkout, and figured that if that giant ball of fluff was allowed, then the kitten the size of Virgil’s hand wouldn’t be kicked out. 

Patton had the shopping list, but he was quickly distracted by the rodent aisle. Virgil took the list and walked over to the aisle with all the collars. He set the carrier down on the ground and picked a couple options from the shelf. Then, he crouched down and looked into Midnight’s eyes. 

“Alright. What about yellow?” he held up the yellow collar. It was an eyesore, but he had to give Midnight options. Silence from the kitten. “Blue?” It nearly perfectly matched Patton’s favorite shirt, which was a bonus in Virgil’s mind. Still silence. “Purple?” Quiet, then one tiny mew. “Alright, purple it is.” 

They moved to the beds, finding Patton already there, holding up a medium sized pink bed. He turned to Virgil and showed it to him. 

“This one!” He said. 

“Isn’t it a little big?” Virgil asked. 

“She’ll grow into it. I don’t know. I was drawn to it.”

Virgil chuckled. “Valid. Let’s see.” He studied the list. “Food, litter, litterbox. Probably some sort of scratching post.”

"And lots of toys!” Patton added. 

“Divide and conquer? I get the food and litter, you can get the box and toys.” Patton nodded and started skipping off to get the stuff. Right before he turned the corner, Virgil shouted, “Make sure she can get into the box!” earning a thumbs up. 

He then swung around to the front of the store to pick up a cart and went over to the food aisle. There, he located the brand recommended by the vet and picked up a few cans. Then it was over to the litter. There, his phone rang. 

“Hey,” He said. 

Logan’s voice came through the phone. “Virgil, it’s Logan.” 

“I know, caller id exists.” 

“Correct. Due to unforeseen circumstances, I will be unable to attend movie night this week. Please give Patton my apologies.” 

“Will do. You’ll make it next week, right? Pat will be disappointed if you miss two weeks in a row.” 

“Of course. As long as we are not required to watch another one of those abominations that Roman likes to call ‘classic Disney movies.” 

Virgil laughed. “I’m putting a blanket ban on any Disney movie made before 1970 from now on.” 

“Perfect. Farewell.” 

“See you next week, L.” 

As Virgil found the most budget friendly litter, the thought that he should probably warn Roman about the cat before movie night crossed his mind. He quickly ignored it. It would funnier to drop the idea of the cat on him when he got there. 

He met up with Patton at the checkout line. As he eyed Patton’s basket, he was relieved that he had been payed recently. He considered asking Patton to maybe give up a couple of the toys, but he just didn’t have it in him. It wasn’t until Patton pulled out his debit card that Virgil realized why he had gotten that many items. 

"Pat, no.” He started, but was quickly shushed. 

“I’m not going to ask you to pay for this much. Look, the newest freelance job just finished, and now I have a little bit of money to burn. Don't fight me on this.” 

They finished and started their trek back to the apartment. “Hey, have you told Roman about her yet?” Virgil asked. 

"No, what are you planning?” Patton said, squinting, his usual face of suspicion. "

Nothing!” Patton knew him too well. “Just don’t tell him until movie night. I wanna surprise him.” 

They arrived at the apartment and set their haul down on the kitchen table. Virgil's arms ached, and he could see that Patton was rubbing his shoulders, grimacing. 

Virgil set the carrier down, letting Midnight loose to sprint around the apartment again. He picked a bag and started pulling things out of it, looking through all the toys Patton had bought.

"We need to get her a tag." Patton said, joining him in going through the stuff. "Oh! You should have a photoshoot with her. Get all your fancy photography stuff out." 

Virgil shrugged. "I don't usually work with animal subjects." 

"I mean, it's our child! It's gotta be different." Virgil blushed slightly at the suggestion that they were co-parenting. "And you could post it on your Instagram!" 

Virgil had an Instagram that he posted some of his photos on. It had a couple hundred followers, and brought in the very few commissions he had done so far, but recently he had been pretty bad at keeping up with it. 

"That's certainly an idea. Did you get two of the same toy?" Virgil held up two nearly identical feather wands. 

Patton grinned sheepishly. "Yeah. I couldn't decide which color to get." 

Virgil smiled back. "Dibs on the black one." 

Patton pulled something else out of the bags. "This is a puzzle toy. You put a treat in this." He pointed at a tiny box in the middle of the toy, "and she has to solve a small puzzle to get it." Virgil inspected the toy. 

"Are you sure we should be teaching her how to solve puzzles?" 

"Why not?" 

"She seems like she's gonna grow into a little shit. I don't think we're equipped for a cat who's both a little shit and intelligent." 

"Do you really think-ow!" Patton jumped and grabbed his ankle. "She scratched me!" He yelled. 

Virgil hadn't even noticed that she was back in the room. "Oh jeez. Are you bleeding?" 

Patton flopped down on a chair. "I can't believe! Betrayed by my own child!" 

"You've been spending too much time with Roman. Can you go get a band-aid, or are you too injured to walk?" Virgil teased. "I'll set the scratching post up so she'll stop using you as one." 

He carried the scratching post into the living room, setting it up under a window. Midnight came running to the post as soon as it was ready. Virgil crouched down and looked her in the eye. "I know you're energetic and you probably never had a healthy way to express it, but we've got all these toys for you for a reason. I love you, but hurting Patton is where I draw the line." He dropped his voice down to a whisper. "Cause I love him more." She meowed in response. Virgil was satisfied that she had gotten the message. 

Patton announced his presence by walking into the living room and immediately banging his elbow against the doorframe. 

Virgil looked back at him. "Jesus Pat, I think we need to do less cat proofing and more Patton proofing." 

"The world needs to be me proof. Do I need to reprimand her or did you?" 

"I think she understands. Do you want to help me with taking a couple photos of her?" Patton's eyes lit up, causing Virgil's heart to jump. He had wanted to help Virgil with his photography since it was revealed that he did it, but Virgil had a hard time working with other people, so he hadn't accepted the offer yet. "Get the collar on her and take her to my room. I'll start setting up." 

Virgil went into his room and grabbed his photography box from his closet. The box contained two white sheets, one for pinning on the wall and one for laying on the ground, his portable lights, and his tripod. The camera was kept on his desk, he spent an entire paycheck on it once, he wasnt about to put it somewhere it could get broken. 

Patton came in while he was rummaging around the box. "Shut the door so we can keep her contained, and come help me pin this sheet." 

"Ok! I brought one of the feather wands just in case." 

"Good idea. Now get your tall ass over here and pin the top of it. I have it marked where the pins need to go." 

"How do you do this by yourself?" The marks were made at 6 foot, and Virgil, in all his 5'3" glory, definitely wasn't tall enough to reach it without help. 

He shrugged. "chair." 

"Are you talking about your desk chair? Virge that could get you hurt!" 

"Yeah, I have enough bruised forearms and knees to prove that." 

Patton's face set in determination. "Well, now you have me to help you. You'll never have to worry about injuring yourself for your job again as long as I'm here!" "

Thanks, but it's not my job, Patton, it's a hobby." 

"It'll be a job one day, I'm sure. I mean, you have a gift!" Patton hit the space bar of Virgil's laptop in a flourish, revealing the background that Virgil had set. It was from the one wedding he had done, a photo from the reception. The two brides were doing the first dance, one of them looking at the other like she was the entire world. It was a beautiful moment that had Virgil tearing up from behind the camera. 

"That photo, and that's just one example, is perfect!" Virgil blushed at the praise. He quickly cleared his throat and set his mind back to the task at hand. He was about to melt and wasn't sure what he'd do if Patton kept spilling compliments from his lips. Probably kiss him. And that was a bad idea. A horrible idea. Terrible no good brain giving him all these idiot very bad ideas. 

He turned his attention to setting up the lights, plugging them in and adjusting them. Next, the camera. Patton was stretching his arms up to reach the marks, shirt lifting up to show a tiny strip of skin. Virgil ducked his head down and continued fiddling with the tripod, face as red as a cherry. 

Finally, the only thing he had left to do was get the subject ready. Who was currently attacking his comforter. This was going to be a mess. He sent Patton into the kitchen to get treats.

"What kind? We didn't buy her specific cat treats?" 

"I don't know. Some lunch meat or something. Just go." 

Then he turned to the cat. "Alright. Now, this may be a hard thing for you, but I'm going to need you to behave." Midnight yowled at him in response. "Point taken. Just don't fuck up my equipment and we'll try to get through this." He finished the lecture by picking her up and plopping her on the sheet. She immediately attempted to scramble off of it, but was intercepted by Virgil. 

Patton came in then, carrying a few pieces of ham on a paper plate. Virgil sighed. "Great. You're back. Can you tear a couple pieces of that and put it on the sheet? She won't stay on it long enough for me to take a photo. 

They proceeded to fill Virgil's SD card with tons and tons of photos. Midnight playing with the feathers, Midnight flopped on the ground, Midnight mid leap, every single pose a cat could do, there was a photo of Midnight doing it. 

About 45 minutes into the photoshoot, Virgil fiddled with the tripod, raising it up to human level. He then gestured to Patton. "Get on there." 

Patton looked shocked. "Me? But I'm not camera ready." 

"Shut up, you're always camera ready. I want to get a couple of photos of her with her pa, obviously." That took another 30 minutes, and left Virgil wore out. It was a decently short shoot session, compared to some jobs he's done, but Midnight was   
undoubtedly one of his worst clients, so he was exhausted. 

Patton started taking down the set as Virgil plugged the card into his computer and starting looking at the photos. He stopped at one. In the photo, Midnight was curled up in Patton's arms, obviously content, and Patton had the softest look on his face, he wasn't looking directly at the camera, he was looking just above it, but other than that, it was one of the best photos he had ever taken. 

"Oh wow." patton sighed out behind him, causing Virgil to jump. "That's beautiful. You did a really good job." 

"Uh, thanks. But you know, it was pretty easy when I had the two best clients in the world." 

They ordered pizza and munched on it as the two of them went through the photos, choosing the best ones. Then they put on a dumb Netflix movie, ignoring it in favor of laughing at Midnight's antics. 

As Virgil passed by Patton's room at about 2 in the morning, he saw Patton asleep, his curls the only thing visible above his quilt, Midnight curled up on top of him, purring in her sleep. The annoyed thought of "of course she wouldn't use the bed we bought specifically for her" crossed his mind, quickly shot down in favor of him just admiring the sight. He stood there for too long, staring, only snapping out of his trance when Midnight stretched out, letting at the smallest mew he had ever heard. He fell asleep that night the most content he had been in years.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman begins his lifelong rivalry with Midnight ft. Some cute platonic Royality

Roman was exhausted. If he never had to deal with another lady who thought she knew everything, or another table of frat boys who made not so subtle homophobic comments at his retreating back, it would be too soon. He had never been so relieved that it was movie night in his life. He arrived home, changed into clothes bordering on pajamas, ran a makeup wipe over his face, and nearly sprinted the four blocks he had to walk to get to Patton and Virgil's apartment.

Once there, he let himself into the apartment with his key. Patton was in the kitchen making popcorn, so he waved a greeting and walked into the living room. There, Virgil was sitting cross legged, on his phone, oblivious to Roman's arrival.

Roman took the opportunity to collapse onto the couch, his head landing on Virgil's lap, startling the man. He landed facedown, and started groaning immediately.

"Rough day at work?" Virgil asked, combing his hand through Roman's hair. 

"Understatement of the century." He muttered. He stayed there, enjoying the affection, until he felt a prick of pain on his leg. He yelped and shot up, jumping onto the back of the couch. 

"Midnight!" Patton yelled from the doorway. Virgil started laughter, small giggles quickly turning into hearty guffaws as he curled in on himself. Roman only squinted in confusion at the blur of black scattering across the floor, the obvious culprit of the pain. Patton scooped it up and started toward the couch.

"Sorry about that," he said, "I'm not sure why she attacked you." 

"The demon has a name?" Roman gasped. 

Virgil wiped the tears from his eyes and calmed down.   
"the demon is edging you out of your best friend spot, so I'd be careful what you say about her. She's a dumpster cat we adopted a couple days ago." 

"And who's idea was it not to warn me?" Virgil raised a hand and Roman narrowed his eyes at him. He knew it. 

"I'm sure you just startled her. She's still skittish." Patton said. "Here." He stepped closer. "Give her your hand."

Roman slowly reached his hand out and held it a foot from the ball of fluff in Patton's arms. He got hissing in return. 

Virgil giggled again. "I guess she just doesn't like you." 

Roman gasped, affronted. "How dare you! How could any creature on this Earth dislike me?" 

Virgil gave him what Roman considered the side eye of the century. "I wonder." 

Roman threw a pillow at him, immediately regretting it when Midnight launched out of Patton's arms and started attacking him again. After thirty seconds of pain and screaming, Patton managed to get ahold of her and shut her in Virgil's room.

"What the hell!" Roman gasped. 

"She's usually really sweet, I don't know what's up with her." Patton said. "Are you bleeding anywhere?" He knelt down to check over Roman. 

"I have an idea." Virgil said. 

"Care to share with the class Emo Nightmare?" Roman sucked in a breath when Patton's fingers brushed over a wound on his wrist. 

"You come in here, slam the door shut, act like your usual loud self as you make your way to the living room. These actions paint you as a threat in her eyes. Then, you jump on me. She must have interpreted that as you attacking me, and she wasn't about to let a stranger attack her dad without defending him."

"That, actually makes sense." 

"I'm gonna go get Band-Aids." Patton got up to find them. 

"Shock and awe, I was smart about something for once, I know. I grew up with cats. I'm pretty decent at reading them." 

Patton came in with a box of Disney Band-Aids and Roman reached out to grab them. "Where's Specks?" 

"Logan couldn't make it due to 'unforeseen circumstances." Virgil said.

"Oh." Roman tried to ignore the disappointment that settled in his stomach. It made no sense, anyway. He had known Patton for years, and met Virgil a couple days after they become roommates. He only met Logan a few weeks ago, when he came to movie night for the first time. So there was so reason he should be so disappointed that he wasn't there. 

"Now quit moping," Virgil said, Roman hadn't realized he had been wearing his emotions so clear on his face. "We're watching Heathers." 

Roman's mood was brightened instantly. One thing that Roman and Virgil had bonded over was their love for what Roman called "The Holy Trinity" of teen girl cult classics. Heathers, Clueless, and Mean Girls. Virgil had been working backwards in introducing the other two to those movies, working backwards chronologically whenever it was his turn to pick the movie. Heathers was Virgil's favorite and Clueless was Roman's. 

Virgil turned the movie on and they settled into their spots. Through trial and error they had organized a way for four people to comfortably fit on the couch a few weeks ago. Patton sat on the left end of the couch, next to the side table. He had access to all their drinks. Roman sat in the middle of the couch, feet on the single foot rest, sometimes he leaned against Logan, sometimes Logan sat in the chair. Virgil curled up with his head in Patton's lap and his feet in Roman's. 

They went through the movie, Roman quoting nearly all of Chandler's lines, Virgil quoting nearly all of Veronica's, Patton gasping at all the deaths. As the credits rolled and they realized Virgil had fallen asleep, and Roman realized that all the tension in his chest had eased. He loved his friends a lot, and they always knew how to cheer him up.  
~~~  
Roman returned the next day with a bucket of cat treats, he was determined to make amends with the cat. Patton opened the door, obviously surprised to see him. 

"Roman!" He said. 

"I've come to apologize to the cat." 

Patton ushered him in. "well come in then. Virgil's at work, but maybe that will help. I think Midnight's in the living room." 

She was sitting right next to her scratching post, looking out the window. There was a tree right outside their window that had a bunch of squirrels around it. It was September, so they were scurrying around gathering their nuts.

Roman walked over, taking a couple of treats out of the bucket. He crouched down when he got a few feet away from her and held out the treats. She only give him attention when he started clicking his tongue. 

She turned her head, gave him a slow once-over, and turned back to the window. Roman moved so he was sitting cross-legged instead of crouching uncomfortably. Fine. If she was wanting to play the waiting game, he would win. 

That lasted a total of 90 seconds until he got bored. He threw the treats in her general direction and got up, going to sit on the couch next to Patton. 

"You just need to be patient." Patton said. "She'll warm up to you eventually." 

Roman huffed and leaned back into the couch cushions. "Patience isn't exactly my strongest trait."

Patton sighed. "oh dear. I do hope she likes you eventually. I wouldn't enjoy it if mine and Virgil's child and one of my very best friends disliked each other." 

Roman felt his eyebrow quirk involuntarily. Ever since Patton accidentally confessed, Roman never missed an opportunity to tease him about his crush on a certain embodiment of a dark and stormy night. He turned toward Patton and put his chin on his folded hands. "So you now have a child with him?" He asked. 

 

"I mean yeah. He found her and brought her home, and we're taking care of her together. It's basically like we have a kid." Patton said, a slight blush already creeping up his face. 

"Practicing for something?" Roman teased, earning a light smack on his wrist. 

"Oh hush." Patton giggled.

"Perhaps practicing for when you have actual human children with a certain someone?" He kept pushing. 

Patton burned red now, nervous laughter continue to spill from his lips. "Oh now really, I'm telling you to zip it." 

"C'mon Padre, why haven't you told him?" The mood changed very quickly. Maybe he shouldn't have asked that. 

Patton wrapped an arm around himself and averted his gaze so he no longer was making eye contact with him. He took a deep breath. "because I'm, I don't know, scared?" 

Roman sat back up. "Scared of what?"

"His reaction? I know logically that he wouldn't react badly, but there's always that fear, you know? I don't want to lose him." 

"But what if you not confessing is the reason that you lose him?" Teasing aside, they didn't really have that many serious moments where he could talk about stuff like that with Patton. 

"There's too much of a risk. I can't, Roman." 

"But what if-" 

"Roman! Please." Patton finally looked him in the eye for the first time since the conversation turned serious. His eyes were filled with desperation, sad enough that Roman knew immediately he had gone too far.

He held his hands up in surrender. "Alright, alright. You're right. I went too far. Sorry." They sat in silence for a while, both watching the cat, who was watching the squirrels. Roman was desperate to salvage the situation, he didn't like leaving his friends on a bad or awkward note. 

"Are you doing anything today?" He asked finally. 

Patton shook his head. "No. I was planning on getting some writing done, but I've already reached my word count goal for today." 

"Do you want to go to the art museum? I'm off today."

Patton hummed in thought for a second. "Sure! I've just gotta feed Midnight first." 

Roman jumped up at that. "That's it!" He shouted, startling both Patton and the cat. "That's how I'll get her to like me! I'll feed her." 

"That's a good idea." Patton got up and walked into the kitchen, Roman following. He grabbed a can of wet cat food, a pale pink food bowl, and a can opener. "Just put the food in the bowl, break it up a little, and set it next to the water bowl." 

Roman held the can opener in his hand and stared at the closed can of food. He continued to stare for a while, too embarrassed to admit why he hadn't started you. 

Luckily, Patton was good at reading people. "You don't know how to use a can opener." He said simply. Roman nodded. "Well, here, I'll teach you."

Patton quickly explained how to use the opener, Roman watching intently. He knew he was way too old to not know this, but he just didn't use a lot of canned food. 

As soon as Patton cracked the can open, Midnight appeared in the kitchen, circling Patton's feet, yelling at him. Patton passed the can to Roman, who dropped the food in the bowl and set it down. Midnight approached cautiously. She gave Roman a dirty look before finally crouching down to eat her food. 

Roman sat down next to the bowl and watched for a few seconds. Then he slowly reached a finger out and scritched Midnight's head. In a flash, Roman had another cut on his hand and Midnight was hiding behind Patton's legs. 

Roman sighed and stood up. "Well, let's try again later." 

Patton smiled at him. "Let's go." 

They had lots of fun at the museum. The two of them were never people for staring at art and looking for meaning in them, Logan refused to go with them to museums for that reason. Instead, they wandered the halls, chatting casually, occasionally making jokes about the art on the walls, their attempts at   
hushed giggles getting dirty looks from a bunch of other people. 

Roman did find one painting that spoke to him for reasons it couldn't explain. It was a portrait of a woman and two young girls, and something in one of the girl's expression stirred something in him. He stared at that single painting for way too long, until Patton pulled him away to make a dumb joke about a sculpture. 

They returned home, spirits high, and Roman was so glad he had that impromptu day with his best friend. They were the first people to befriend each other of the four, and Roman loved Logan and Virgil to death, he truly did, but he sometimes missed when it was just the two of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The painting that Roman is captivated by is Emma and Her Children by George Bellows which I'm also obsessed with.


End file.
